HN Explorer

Show HN: Post-Interface Design – A manifesto on the abolition of UI

3 points by andreabergonzi ↗ HN
Hi HN,

I just published a manifesto arguing that Chatbots are a transitional phase and "Silence" is the future of interface.

It covers the "Synthetic Subconscious," the death of the App, and the ethics of the "Surveillance Bargain."

Read it here: https://postinterface.design (PDF available on site)

Would love your feedback on the "Serendipity Deficit" concept.

3 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 21.6 ms ] thread
dtagames
It's a good argument. Canned UI and pre designed user interactions are already done for. We can't sit around and think of what a user might want to do or how to present that. Those concepts have to be fluid and chosen by the user.

While agents that can book a hair appointment are interesting, that's more of a workaround than the kind of UI I think we're going for. The visual appearance of the software itself must change dynamically according not only to the task but to the user's preferences. This is something we haven't seen demonstrated yet.

compressedgas
You want to have Proactive Computing https://cacm.acm.org/research/proactive-computing/ (David Tennenhouse, 2000), not to get rid of interfaces which is something that can't be done as you will always have an interface, even if it is only in the form of an API, not wrapped up for any specific use, that has representations and actions, that the agents will need be be able to do anything.
andreabergonzi
Thanks for the Tennenhouse link, definitely ahead of his time on Proactive Computing. You're right that 'Post-Interface' is a rhetorical hook. We can't eliminate the technical interface (APIs/protocols). My argument is about eliminating the cognitive interface for the end user. Right now, even our smartest agents are still reactive because they wait for a prompt. I see generative UI as the bridge to true proactivity: instead of a static dashboard waiting for input, the system constructs a temporary UI only when it senses intent via context/API. The goal isn't no interface, but zero friction interface where the UI is a generated byproduct of the agent's action, not a prerequisite for it.